The U.N. World Meteorological Organization (WMO) Monday opened the World Climate Conference â€“ a week of talks in Geneva aimed at establishing a better global weather surveillance system to provide countries with “earlier, more accurate warnings about hurricanes, droughts and floods,” the Associated Press reports.

News coverage examines water shortages in Iraq and Yemen: “A water shortage described as the most critical since the earliest days of Iraq’s civilisation is threatening to leave up to 2 million people in the south of the country without electricity and almost as many without drinking water,” the Guardian…

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation recently awarded a $4.8 million grant to the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine to study and improve sanitation systems in the developing world, the Seattle Times’ blog, “Business of Giving” reports.

Heavy Rains Worsen Health Conditions For IDPs In Sri Lanka “Heavy rains exacerbated poor conditions for hundreds of thousands of internally displaced people (IDPs) in northern Sri Lanka over the weekend,” IRIN reports. “From an epidemiological point of view, this is a public health disaster waiting to happen,” an international…

European Laboratories Form Consortium To Study Neglected Tropical Diseases A handful of European universities and industries have formed a consortium to “boost drug development for the treatment of two deadly diseases, the African sleeping sickness and Leishmaniasis, which affect millions of people worldwide,” afrol News reports. “This new project combines…

More Studies Needed As Africa’s ‘Chronic-Disease Epidemic Looms’ “An epidemic of chronic, non-communicable diseases such as heart disease, mental illness, cancer, diabetes, and obesity is growing in Africa, a continent still struggling with infectious and nutritional diseases,” according to a Boston Globe opinion pieceÂ by Michelle Holmes and Shona Dalal. Although…

U.S. Global Health StrategyÂ Should ‘Encompass Holistic Solutions’ As the U.S. “works on a comprehensive global health strategy,” we need to “expand our thinking to encompass holistic solutions that go into improving the health of the worldâ€™s poor,” Bill Frist, former U.S. Senate Majority leader and current member of the Millennium…

Third Person In China Dies Of Pneumonic Plague, Officials Seal-Off Area A third person died of pneumonic plague in China on Monday, local health authorities said, Xinhua reports. The outbreak began on July 30 and an additional nine people in the town of ZiketanÂ are reportedly ill (8/3). “Pneumonic plague, which…